Basic cooking principles
Absolutely all recipes for sour cream and cocoa glaze are extremely simple, and therefore the preparation technology will be understandable to any housewife. Work principles:
- If you want to make the taste brighter and richer, add a pinch of vanilla or citrus juice to the ingredients.
- Glaze prepared with water has a matte surface, but if you use butter as a base, it will give a shiny gloss when coating desserts.
- Confectionery icing can have different colors: brown is achieved by adding cocoa, dark or milk chocolate; to obtain any other shade, you must use natural food coloring.
- Prepare the glaze over low heat with constant stirring. If this condition is neglected, it will quickly burn, lumps will appear, and its taste will deteriorate.
- It is necessary to apply the mixture onto the confectionery products, which has had time to cool slightly; If it is too hot, it will form a very thin layer as it will drain; if it is cold, it will form lumps on the surface.
Mirror glaze
Many people have probably seen cakes in stores covered with a smooth mirror glaze. They look very appetizing, and their shiny surface attracts the eye. Do you think it’s difficult to make such a cake at home? We bring to your attention a recipe for mirror glaze that looks very impressive and does not stick to your hands. It does not melt at room temperature, does not crumble or break when cut. In a more liquid form, this glaze can be used as a recipe for hot chocolate made without milk.
Ingredients needed to make mirror glaze:
- chocolate (black or milk) - 50 g (1/2 bar);
- gelatin - 3 g (1/2 teaspoon);
- whey - 30-40 g.
Preparation time: 5 minutes.
Cooking time: 5-10 minutes.
Total time: 10-15 minutes.
Amount of frosting: for 5-7 cakes.
Sour cream glaze with lemon juice and sugar
This recipe does not require cooking the glaze, so you will spend a minimum of time making it.
For a glass of powdered sugar you need to take:
- a tablespoon of freshly squeezed lemon juice;
- 160 g of sour cream, which must be full-fat.
Let's start cooking.
- In order to avoid the appearance of lumps in the mass, sift the powder through a sieve with small cells. If you don’t have ready-made powdered sugar on hand, you can make it yourself. To do this, grind the sugar in a coffee grinder.
- Combine the sifted powder with sour cream and mix thoroughly. The mixture should become homogeneous.
- At the last stage, add lemon juice. Once again, mix the mixture well and immediately use it to decorate confectionery products.
Recipe for making glaze from granulated sugar and gelatin
Pour gelatin with two tablespoons of water and leave to swell in a warm place for 5-7 minutes.
Advice. The water must be cold, otherwise the swelling will occur too quickly and unevenly. It is better to use instant gelatin as it does not form lumps.
Fill the granulated sugar with four tablespoons of water. Place the container on low heat and bring until the sugar is completely dissolved, stirring occasionally.
Advice. Instead of sand, you can take powdered sugar, but half the amount, that is, 1/2 cup. The mixture does not need to be brought to a boil.
Remove the sugar syrup from the heat and add the swollen gelatin to it.
Stir the mixture thoroughly and quickly until the gelatin is completely dissolved and a homogeneous mass is formed.
Beat the future glaze with a mixer at medium speed for 3-4 minutes.
Advice. Beat the mixture until it turns white.
After cooling to room temperature, you can apply the glaze to cupcakes, cakes, and buns.
Advice. It is convenient to apply the glaze with a silicone pastry brush.
By adding cocoa or other dyes, you can create interesting designs on baked goods.
Advice. You can draw with a match or a toothpick.
Multi-colored confectionery sprinkles will adhere perfectly to this glaze.
Advice. If the glaze has already thickened, and you have not yet had time to apply it to all the products, then add one spoon of hot water to the mixture and mix thoroughly.
Sour cream and cocoa glaze
Of the large number of options for making sour cream glaze, the recipe with cocoa is considered the simplest.
For this decoration you need to prepare 150 g of sugar, a heaping tablespoon of cocoa, a quarter of a pack of sandwich butter and half a glass of homemade sour cream. In addition, you will need an enamel saucepan and a silicone or plastic spatula.
Let's start cooking.
- Combine the dry ingredients in a saucepan and mix.
- Add sour cream in portions, thoroughly mixing the mixture each time. This will prevent lumps from forming.
- Place on the stove and cook over low heat until the sugar is completely dissolved. Don't forget to stir the glaze all the time.
- Turn off the gas supply, add oil and immediately beat the mixture with a whisk.
- Let it cool a little and as soon as the mixture becomes thick enough, decorate the baked goods.
Sour cream frosting with dark chocolate
Chocolate icing made from dark chocolate and sour cream is especially good for decorating cakes and large cupcakes.
To prepare it, add a glass of powdered sugar to a bar of dark chocolate, half a glass of homemade sour cream, a tablespoon of butter and corn syrup, and a couple of drops of vanilla extract.
Let's start cooking.
- Chop the chocolate, put the pieces in a small container, which, in turn, is placed on a saucepan with boiling water.
- Let the tile melt and, while stirring, add the oil. The mixture should acquire a homogeneous consistency.
- Lastly, add the syrup and vanilla extract. Mix well and leave on the table.
- Beat powdered sugar with sour cream. Add the resulting mixture into the slightly cooled chocolate mass in small portions, stirring each time with gentle movements from bottom to top.
- We use the finished mixture to decorate homemade baked goods.
What kind of chocolate is best to use?
On store shelves, a chocoholic can find: “pure” chocolate without various additives, dessert with fillings (nuts, dried fruits, fruit and berry fillings) and chocolate drops. In this case, it is preferable to opt for:
- “pure” chocolate without additives;
- chocolate drops.
One more thing. Porous chocolate should absolutely not be used for icing. Firstly, the presence of bubbles during melting will negatively affect the consistency of the chocolate mass. Secondly, although a porous dessert melts faster, it almost always burns to the surface, which can completely ruin the confectionery topping.
It is also not recommended to use chocolate with various fillings. Such fillings almost always contain vegetable fats and a lot of sugar. This composition will negatively affect the taste of the sauce. Plus, the filling may not melt at all under the influence of high temperature.
So, you can use your choice of white, milk and dark chocolate. When buying a dessert, follow a few simple rules: natural composition, absence of flavors and preservatives, shelf life of the delicacy up to 1 year. So, how to properly melt chocolate for frosting at home?
Sour cream and white chocolate frosting
A glaze of white chocolate and sour cream will make your confectionery products very delicate, their appearance will become light, literally airy. It is called universal because the color can be easily changed by adding a few drops of food coloring.
For one bar of white chocolate you need to take half a stick of sandwich butter and half a glass of sour cream and sugar.
Let's start cooking.
- Combine sour cream with sugar and knead until the latter dissolves.
- Add melted butter to the mixture. Using a whisk, combine the ingredients.
- Break the chocolate into pieces (to make the process go faster, you can grate it) and add to the prepared mass.
- Place on the stove and, with minimal gas supply, bring the contents of the saucepan to a boil. When the first air bubbles appear, remove from heat.
- As soon as it cools down and becomes moderately warm, you can use it to decorate desserts.
How to melt dessert on a stove
You can also melt chocolate for glaze on a regular tile. To do this you should prepare:
- the required amount of confectionery based on cocoa beans;
- non-stick saucepan;
- wooden spatula.
Expert opinion
Anastasia Titova
Confectioner
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Tip: if you hear that the chocolate mass has begun to burn, add a little butter to it.
Break the sweetness into small pieces and place in a saucepan. We put the dishes on a small fire, and constantly stirring the mass, melt the sweetness. Your task is to constantly stir the mass until it reaches the required consistency.
Chocolate glaze made from sour cream and vegetable oil
This chocolate glaze is made from high quality cocoa and sour cream with a high percentage of fat content. For it you will need 75 g of homemade sour cream, 4 full tablespoons of ground cocoa and sugar, 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil.
Let's start cooking.
- Grind the sifted cocoa powder with sugar in a small bowl.
- Add the indicated portion of fatty sour cream to the resulting mixture.
- Cook the mixture over low heat for a couple of minutes – it should become thicker.
- Remove the saucepan from the stove and add vegetable oil.
Tips and Tricks
The following techniques will help you make sour cream decorative icing as tasty and easy to use as possible.
- To make the taste more pleasant and rich, use high-fat sour cream. And if the recipe does not contain chocolate, the cocoa must be of the highest quality.
- Did you make a lot of frosting? Refrigerate any leftovers and simply warm the decorating mixture in the microwave before next use.
- We advise beginner cooks to prepare the glaze not over fire, but using a steam bath. In this case, it will definitely not burn.
- Baked goods should be decorated in two stages: first apply the glaze in a thin layer, wait a little for it to set, and then make another, thicker layer.
- What is considered the optimal temperature? Dip your finger into the mixture, and if it “tolerates”, it’s time to use it for decoration.
- Glaze prepared with the addition of powdered sugar without heat treatment is used immediately. After time, it becomes hard and therefore unsuitable for work.
- If you overheat the mixture and it becomes too thick, add a little milk or water and bring to a boil again. Confectioners recommend tightening glaze that is too thin with a small amount of powdered sugar, starch or flour.
Sour cream and cocoa glaze is a decorative element that allows you to experiment with yourself and easily accepts additives such as strong alcoholic drinks with an intense aroma (rum, cognac), coconut flakes and vanilla extract, which allows you to get a new taste every time.
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How to melt in a water bath
It is not for nothing that most modern confectioners prefer this particular option for kindling delicacies. A water bath is a method of cooking food in which the product boils without direct contact of the container with fire.
Among the advantages of melting chocolate in a water bath, it should be noted: speed, simplicity and uniformity of melting of the dessert. How to properly melt chocolate for icing in a water bath?
- First, put the pan on the fire and pour the required amount of water. Then, on top of the pan (or any other container), place a deep bowl in which we will melt the sweetness.
- Break the chocolate into small pieces and place in a dry bowl.
- Constantly stir the mixture with a spoon until it reaches a homogeneous consistency.
During cooking, be careful not to let water or other liquid get into the middle of the bowl. If this could not be avoided, after kindling, you will have to beat the mass using a blender. Now you know how to melt chocolate for icing in a water bath .